iClinic - September 13, 2000
Dept of Foreign Affairs
"We are writing as the foreign ministers of thirteen nations, and as concerned women, to proclaim our joint resolve to combat the global scourge of HIV/AIDS.
"We are saddened to note that HIV/AIDS continues to ravage the developing world, where 95 percent of global infections and deaths have occurred.
"The world-wide HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the continued, associated health challenges of other infectious diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, threaten to rob multiple generations of the promises and hope of a new century.
"Our governments recognise that the HIV/AIDS pandemic is an urgent foreign policy issue with humanitarian, security, economic, and development implications that threaten decades of hard-won progress, and which extends beyond the means and competence of any one nation or entity to counter.
"This is especially evident in the pandemic's current epicentre, Africa.
"We are cognisant, however, of the need to focus international attention on the emerging HIV/AIDS threat in Asia, Russia, the newly independent states, regions of northern Europe, and parts of the Western Hemisphere, especially the Caribbean, as well.
"We welcome the success of the recent HIV/AIDS conference in Durban and the urgency attached to tackling HIV/AIDS by African leaders, donors, international financial institutions and the private sector.
"We encourage all heads of state to devote high-level political leadership and direction to the struggle against HIV/AIDS, not only in Africa, but also around the world.
"Experience has shown that strong national leadership and open discussion of the problem are critically important to the fight against HIV/AIDS, and we call on all national leaders, not only health ministers, to join in the public fight against HIV/AIDS.
"Mr Secretary-General, our governments are committed to supporting your call to stop and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015, and to provide special assistance to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
"We recognise that support of this goal requires the dedication of significant financial and human resources, and we will strive to identify and dedicate those resources.
"We especially note the critical need to support UNAIDS, including the promotion of assistance to developing countries in their efforts to treat people infected with HIV/AIDS.
"Finally, but by no means the least of our concerns, we as women note the special needs of women in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment.
"Recognising the increasing number and growing proportion of women with HIV, we call upon the UN membership to take into account the need for the enhanced availability of education, testing, counselling, care and treatment designed to address the specific needs of women and girls.
"The destructive forces of the AIDS pandemic pose a fatal threat to young men and women during their productive years, and, in the case of women, in the reproductive process itself.
"In addition, we call for affordable, enhanced medical interventions aimed at lessening the risk factors associated with mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, and which address the needs of mothers as well as their newborn.
"We thank you, Mr Secretary-General, for your leadership on this issue of global importance. We look forward to working with you in our common effort to overcome this global plague. We ask that you circulate this letter as a document of the General Assembly."
Signed by:
* Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Foreign Minister Austria
* Nadezhda Mihailova, Foreign Minister Bulgaria
* Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Avila, Foreign Minister El Salvador
* Maria Soledad Alvear Valenzuela, Foreign Minister Chile
* Lydia Polfer, Foreign Minister Luxembourg
* Andrea Willi, Foreign Minister Principality of Liechtenstein
* Lila Ratsifandrihamanana, Foreign Minister Republic of Madagascar
* Lilian Patel, Foreign Minister Malawi
* Rosario Green, Foreign Secretary Mexico
* Nkosazana Zuma, Foreign Minister Republic Of South Africa
* Maria Levens, Foreign Minister Suriname
* Anna Lindh, Foreign Minister Sweden
* Madeleine Albright, Secretary Of State US
Source: Dept Foreign Affairs
000913
WO000903
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